Ann Luongo: What drives the quiet man?

Saturday

Oct 25, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 25, 2008 at 9:15 PM

There’s a man who appears each week at the field where my youngest has soccer practice. He comes up the drive like clockwork, never slow or lingering, but always with determination in his gait. His head is almost always down, and he mutters continuously to some unseen force.

Ann Luongo

There’s a man who appears each week at the field where my youngest has soccer practice. He comes up the drive like clockwork, never slow or lingering, but always with determination in his gait. His head is almost always down, and he mutters continuously to some unseen force.

I watched him for a long time, looking for any sign of something that I or other parents should be concerned about. But the longer I watched, the more I came to realize that his objective there, alone at the field, was actually one the rest of us might hope to emulate ourselves.

He avoids the gaze of others. His eyes are always scouring the ground, looking until he finds what he’s searching for – a discarded wrapper. He’ll pick it up and continue his search, and then he’ll stop again for a crumpled piece of paper. He’ll carry on like this until his two hands, and occasionally his pockets, are filled with junk tossed away carelessly by others. Then he’ll go to the nearest trashcan and empty everything into it.

In little more than half an hour, he’ll have covered the entire parking lot and some of the field, bending to pick up yet another piece of trash here or there, muttering away to himself, and then make another beeline to the nearest trashcan. Once, I even saw him put his entire leg into one filthy receptacle and compress its contents, to make room for more.

And I admired him.

I wonder sometimes what drives him. He comes alone, he never speaks to anyone, and people pay little or no attention to him. (Well, except for someone who happens to be paying full attention.) He talks away to himself and he keeps his head down. But he acts with purpose.

Does he suffer from an obsessive disorder that demands this of him? That was my first inclination, having lived for many years with someone with OCD. Maybe he feels that this one action will allow him some bit of control in his life?

Or maybe he’s simply trying to do the right thing by respecting the park, the families who use it, and the environment. As my husband suggested, “Maybe he just wants to help keep the park clean.”

Whatever it is, he always presses on, going about his business, avoiding others and talking to himself, all the while making the park a better place for everyone.

Ann Luongo is the assistant editor of special sections/real estate – south division. She likes to read, write and blog, but hates to shop or talk on the phone. Her favorite read is the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon. E-mail her at aluongo@cnc.com.